-Strong /Weak Syllables & Weak Forms-Definitions: Strong/ Weak-Schwa/ Close Front and Close Back Vowels-Syllabic Consonants: Nasal/Lateral/ Flap-Weak Forms: Functions Words-Rules about Use of Strong Forms Prepared by :

Zhian Fadhil Asaad

Strong /Weak Syllables & Weak Forms

English syllables divided into two types, strong and weak. This feature is not in English language only but in many other languages. Strong and weak syllables in English can be distinguished on the basis of vowel quality when we compare weak syllable with strong syllable we find that the vowel of a weak syllable tends to be shorter of lower intensity and different in quality, is less loud and has a vowel that can not occur in strong syllables. eg. Father the second syllable which is weak is shorter than the first. (Roach,2000,p81) Critical for deciding between these factors are syllables containing unstressed, unreduced vowels.

Crystal (2004: 247) states that strong (or full) forms are used when the word is said in isolation or is being emphasized. Weak forms are normal in connected speech: peripheral vowels (those which are articulated towards the edge of the vowel area in the mouth) are replaced by those of more central quality, and some consonants may be elided.

(Roach,2000,p82)defines a weak syllable as the one that can only have four types of center: 1. the vowel "schwa" 2. A close front unrounded vowel in the general area of i: and i 3. A close back rounded vowel in the general area of u: and u 4. A syllabic consonant

Weak forms

Weak forms are usually distinguished by a change in vowel quality from a border position on the vowel quadrilateral to a central position.

The vowel in a weak form is usually the schwa (ə). Weak forms are pronounced more quickly and at

lower volume in comparison to the stressed syllables.

They are also not central to changes in intonation

Strong forms

Strong forms are often found:

1)When they occur at the end of a word

2) When a word is contrasted with another word

3)When a word is stressed for emphasis

4)When a word is being quoted.

Weak Syllables Will have..…

four types of center: The vowel (" shwa") better /betə/ A close front unrounded vowel in the general

area of i: and i symbolized i /hæ pi/ A close back rounded vowel in the general

area of u: and ʊ symbolized u A syllabic consonant

Schwa

Crystal(2003,p.407) states that The usual name for the natural vowel [ə], heard in English at the begning of such words a ( ago, amaze, or in the middle of afterward),sometimes called the indefinite vowel. It is particularly frequent vowel in English as it’s the one most commonly heard when a stressed vowel becames unstressed eg. Telegraph/teləgra:f/ becaming telegrahpy/tə’legrəfi/Schwa in English is mainly found in unstressed positions, but in some other languages occurs more frequently as a stressed vowel.

Close Front Vowels

Roach(2000,p.84) states that vowels are found in weak syllables( in the general region of i: and I ). And according to Crystal (2003,p.240) ,[i:] is produced when front of tongue raised to slightly below and behind close front position; lips spread; tongue tense side rims make firm contact with upper molars.[I] is produce when part of tongue near centre than front raised to just above have close position; lips loosely spread; tongue lax rims make light contract with upper molars.Eg. /i:zi:/ easy ,/bIzi:/ busy

Close Back Vowels

Roach(2000,p.84) states that vowels are found in weak syllables. Close back rounded ( in the general region of u: and U ). And according to Crystal (2003,p.240) [u:] produced when the back of tongue raised to just below close position; lips closely rounded ; tongue tense , no firm contact between rims and upper molars.[U] produced when the tongue is near centre than back ,raised to just above half-close position; lips closely but loosely rounded tongue lax ; no firm contact between rims and upper molars.

Syllabic Consonants: Nasal/Lateral/ Flap

Nasal: Syllabic-nConsider the syllables that make up the following word.garden    /gɑ(r)/ + /dən/ = /ˈgɑ(r) dən/ {1}The first syllable /gɑ/ consists of a CV sequence and the second

syllable /dən/ of a CVC arrangement. The first syllable is said to be a stressed syllable, i.e. it is given more weight, more emphasis, when spoken. The second syllable is an unstressed syllable. In unstressed syllables that end in /n/ the immediately preceding vowel is usually the neutral vowel /ə/. This results in the final /n/ taking on the full measure of the syllable. This is known as syllabic-n and it is transcribed in IPA as [nE]. Thus:

garden    /ˈgɑ(r)dən/    →    [ˈgɑ(ɹ)dnE] {2}We see, therefore, that the second syllable no longer contains a

vowel. Further examples of syllabic-n include the following.frighten    /ˈfraɪtən/    →    [ˈfraɪtnE] ,button    /ˈbʌtən/    →    [ˈbʌtnE]

The most frequently found in (n) Most common after alveolar plosives and fricatives, [t ,d ,s ,

z , followed by n , the plosive nasally released by lowering the soft palate. E.g eaten /i:tn/ the tongue doesn’t move in the tn sequence but the soft palate is lowered at the end of t so the compressed air escaped through nose.

(n) can’t be usually found after l , tʃ , d3 Syllabic n after non-alveolar consonant is not so widespread

. E.g ‘wagon’ Syllabic n after bilabial consonants ‘ ribbon’ After velar consonants , syllabic n is also possible ‘waken’ After f, v , syllabic n is more common ‘seven’

Syllabic-m

As well as the occurrence of syllabic-n in unstressed syllables, syllabic-m can occur in similar environments. Examples of syllabic-m, which similarly take the full measure of a syllable, i.e. taking the nuclear vowel slot in the syllable, include the following.rhythm     /ˈrɪðəm/    →    [ˈɹɪðmE ]bottom    /ˈbɒtəm/    →    [ˈbɒtmE ]blossom    /ˈblɒsəm /    →    [ˈblɒsmE ]

Syllabic-m

Syllabic-ng

In certain environments, the third English nasal /ŋ/ may also occur as a syllabic consonant. Consider the following:broken    /ˈbrəʊkən/    →    [ˈbɹəʊkŋE]Here, the /ən/ sequence is compressed. Such compression could plausibly yield syllabic-n in the nuclear vowel slot, i.e. [ˈbɹəʊknE]. Further, in some instances, the occurrence of a velar plosive (here /k/) adjacent to a nasal (here /n/) leads to the nasal assimilating a feature of the velar plosive. Now, it occasionally happens that the nasal assimilates the place of articulation of the velar plosive /k/, i.e. the velar position. This yields a velar nasal. Of course, the English velar nasal is /ŋ/ (as in the word wing /wɪŋ/). Hence, we can argue that [ˈbɹəʊknE] undergoes an assimilatory process to yield [ˈbɹəʊkŋE]. This assimilation is more likely to occur if the nasal consonant /n/ occurs between two velar consonants, as in the following example.broken key    /ˈbrəʊkən ki/    →    [ˈbɹəʊkŋE ki]

Syllabic liquids

There are two ‘liquid’ phonemes in English: /l/ as in look, and /r/ as in run.Syllabic-lExamples of syllabic-l filling the vowel slot in unstressed syllables include the following.handle    /ˈhændəl/    →    [ˈhændɬ̩8 ]bottle    /ˈbɒtəl/    →    [ˈbɒtɬ̩8 ]bagel    /ˈbeɪgəl/    →    [ˈbeɪgɬ̩8 ]

Syllabic liquids

Syllabic-r

Rhotic accents are accents in which /r/ can occur before consonants (e.g. as in park /pɑrk/, cart  /kɑrt/, card /kɑrd/) and before pauses (e.g. as in core /kɔr/, car /kɑr/, bar /bɑr/). The majority of American English accents are rhotic but the Standard British English accent is non-rhotic. Standard British English pronunciation of the immediately prior examples would be: park /pɑk/, cart  /kɑt/, card /kɑd/ and core /kɔ/, car /kɑ/, bar /bɑ/. Syllabic-r is widespread in rhotic accents but severely limited in non-rhotic accents. Roach (2009:70) provides the example of the word particular, which is likely to be pronounced as /pr Etɪkjəlr E/ by most Americans in careful speech, i.e. with syllabic-r, but as /pətɪkjələ/ by Standard British English speakers.

Flap

In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the tongue) is thrown against another.Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind the alveolar ridge and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge in passing." Spajić, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1996), 'The Trills of Toda', Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 26:1-21. p. 2

Flap In PHONOLOGY: a sound articulated in such a way that one articulator, usually the tongue tip, is drawn back and then allowed to strike against another articulator in returning to its rest position  EXAMPLE:in American English /r/ in mirror or /t/ in dirty are often flaps.(cf. Ladefoged (1975))

Weak Forms: Functions Words-Rules about Use of Strong Forms

Weak Forms: is that which is result of a word being unstressed , as in normal pronunciation of (of) in (cup of tea) and in most other grammatical words. Several words in English have more than one weak form eg. And can be [ænd], [ənd] ,[ən] or [n]. the notion is also applied to syntactically conditioned forms , such as my (weak) v. mine (strong). Crystal(2003,p.498) O'Connor(1980,p92) states that the use of weak form is an essential part of English speech and usually they are not pronounced alone and usually they are not stressed and the forms with /ə/ are used and they known as the weak form of those words.

Words-Rules about Use of Strong Forms

•Whenever the word is stressed as it may be :

/hæv ju:/•Whenever the word is final in the group:

/ju: a:/ . Exceptions : he ,him, his , her, them, us have their weak form in final , O'Connor(1980,p95)

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